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Commercial Spaceflight FederationWed, 25 Feb 2015 14:07:09 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1CSF Statement on Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites Test Flighthttp://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2014/10/csf-statement-virgin-galactic-scaled-composites-test-flight/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=csf-statement-virgin-galactic-scaled-composites-test-flight
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2014/10/csf-statement-virgin-galactic-scaled-composites-test-flight/#commentsFri, 31 Oct 2014 21:35:05 +0000http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=5172Washington D.C. – Today, Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites encountered a tragic in-flight anomaly resulting in the death of the pilot and injuring a second. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation would like to express our deepest sympathies to the families of those affected and offer our wishes for a swift and complete recovery for the injured pilot.

Right now, Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites are working with the team at Mojave Air & Space Port and local authorities to secure the site and ensure the safety of all those involved in the recovery and investigation. It is far too early to know the details of what happened. CSF will provides updates as they come in.

“Today, we are tragically reminded of the tremendous challenges that we face every day in our efforts to push the envelope of human experience and capability in space enterprise and exploration,” said Commercial Spaceflight Federation President Eric Stallmer. “The precious life that was lost cannot be replaced and will never be forgotten. The courage of both pilots will serve as inspiration for us all to continue to meet the challenges of spaceflight with clear focus and determination in order to make it as safe and reliable as possible.”

About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Associate Director Sirisha Bandla at sirisha@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.715.2928.

]]>http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2014/10/csf-statement-virgin-galactic-scaled-composites-test-flight/feed/0Commercial Spaceflight Federation Heralds U.S. Resurgence in the Commercial Satellite Launch Markethttp://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2013/12/commercial-spaceflight-federation-heralds-u-s-resurgence-commercial-satellite-launch-market/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=commercial-spaceflight-federation-heralds-u-s-resurgence-commercial-satellite-launch-market
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2013/12/commercial-spaceflight-federation-heralds-u-s-resurgence-commercial-satellite-launch-market/#commentsWed, 04 Dec 2013 14:53:12 +0000http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=4880Washington D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates SpaceX for the successful launch of their Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and for the deployment of the SES-8 telecommunications satellite in its intended geostationary orbit. This was the seventh consecutive launch of the Falcon 9 family, the second launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, and SpaceX’s first communications satellite payload. SpaceX currently has over 40 missions on manifest representing many of the world’s largest commercial satellite companies, and intends to launch its next commercial satellite, Thaicom 6, later this month. Another U.S. launch provider – United Launch Alliance – has recently been engaged to launch Mexico’s Morelos-3 satellite. These missions herald the return of the commercial launch market to the United States.

“The U.S. launch industry has been increasingly winning launch contracts from American as well as international satellite companies in the last three years,” said CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria. “The renewed U.S. competitiveness in this multi-billion dollar market will continue to create high-tech jobs at home and will drive down the cost of access to space for technology and research applications all over the world.”

About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Sirisha Bandla at sirisha@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.347.1418.

]]>http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2013/12/commercial-spaceflight-federation-heralds-u-s-resurgence-commercial-satellite-launch-market/feed/0CSF Congratulates Winning Launch Providers in Latest Round of NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Programhttp://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2011/08/csf-congratulates-winning-launch-providers-in-latest-round-of-nasas-commercial-reusable-suborbital-research-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=csf-congratulates-winning-launch-providers-in-latest-round-of-nasas-commercial-reusable-suborbital-research-program
http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/2011/08/csf-congratulates-winning-launch-providers-in-latest-round-of-nasas-commercial-reusable-suborbital-research-program/#commentsTue, 09 Aug 2011 21:17:18 +0000http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=1565Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to congratulate member companies Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace for winning the latest round of contracts today to integrate and fly payloads to space as part of NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program. The CRuSR program is part of NASA’s Space Technology Program under the leadership of NASA’s Chief Technologist, Dr. Bobby Braun.

Commercial reusable suborbital spacecraft – such as Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx, Masten Space Systems’ Xaero, Blue Origin’s New Shepard, and Armadillo Aerospace’s modular vehicles – provide the nation with a new low-cost capability to carry payloads and people to the edge of space. NASA is taking advantage of these capabilities with its CRuSR program. Following the Space Shuttle’s retirement, commercial suborbital vehicles are expected to be the next American flights of people into space from US soil.

Admiral Craig Steidle, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, stated, “Today’s announcement illustrates the future of NASA-industry partnerships in order to offer R&D, science, and education flight opportunities.”

According to NASA, “each successful vendor will receive an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. These two-year contracts, worth a combined total of $10 million, will allow NASA to draw from a pool of commercial space companies to deliver payload integration and flight services. The flights will carry a variety of payloads to help meet the agency’s research and technology needs.” A total of seven firms were selected.

Admiral Steidle added, “The Commercial Spaceflight Federation applauds the leadership of Dr. Bobby Braun, NASA’s Chief Technologist. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a strong advocate for the CRuSR program and for Space Technology.”

NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun stated in the NASA press release, “NASA is moving toward the goal of making frequent, low-cost access to near-space available to a wide range of engineers, scientists and technologists. The government’s ability to open the suborbital research frontier to a broad community of innovators will enable maturation of the new technologies and capabilities needed for NASA’s future missions in space.”

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Executive Director John Gedmark noted, “This is a big day for commercial space. Just as 1920s air mail purchases helped jumpstart the airline industry, we expect that NASA’s purchases of flights on commercial suborbital vehicles will help accelerate this new industry. Hundreds of scientists, engineers, and educators have attended CSF workshops on the topic of using commercial suborbital vehicles, and we are thrilled to see that the R&D community will now be able to get rides to space.”

NASA’s full press release can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/aug/HQ_11-258_Flight_Opportunities.html .

About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director John Gedmark at john@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121.

Washington, D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomes the recent announcement by the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation that several U.S. spaceports have received funds under the inaugural round of the Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching Grants (STIM-Grants) program.

Several Commercial Spaceflight Federation member spaceports received grants as part of the first-year’s $500,000 total allocation, including:

* The New Mexico Spaceport Authority; to provide an Automated Weather Observing System;
* The East Kern Airport District in Mojave, California; for an emergency response vehicle; and
* The Jacksonville Airport Authority in Florida; to develop a Spaceport Master Plan for Cecil Field Spaceport.

CSF Executive Director John Gedmark stated, “The FAA’s Spaceport Grants program has been a major policy priority for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. We see this program as essential to improving safety and maintaining the economic competitiveness of U.S. spaceports. This is the first year the program has received funds from the U.S. Congress, and we are pleased to see that FAA has moved promptly to award the funds so that spaceport infrastructure improvements can begin immediately. We look forward to seeing this program continue and grow.”

The press release issued by the FAA is available at http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=11919 .

About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high- tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director John Gedmark at john@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121.

Norm Augustine, chair of the White House’s blue-ribbon panel reviewing the space program, recently stated, “NASA ought to be exploring outer space and doing new things, and turning over the transportation of weight and people, goods and people, to low Earth orbit … [as] a commercial endeavor, in our view.” Indeed, the U.S. commercial orbital spaceflight industry is already entrusted to launch multi-billion-dollar satellites for the national security sector, as well as one-of-a-kind scientific missions for NASA.

The chart below, which we’ve created using publicly available data, illustrates that when you add up the markets represented by NASA, other government agencies, and commercial customers, the commercial orbital spaceflight industry is publicly planning over 40 flights to orbit between now and 2014. This is a robust foundation on which to grow the industry to meet Norm Augustine’s stated goal above.